If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

QUESTIONS FOR HASBRO - round 19

Please post your VOTE for up to 6 {six} of the questions provided in this thread, letting us know which ones you most want to see asked on Friday, December 1st. Keep in mind that your votes in round 18 do not count in this round, so if your question is still on the list, you may want to vote for it again.

Also, when submitting a new question post it separately from your votes, it will be added to the list later and edit if needed. Try to keep new questions as clear and concise as possible, and keep in mind Hasbro is not answering questions about potential specific 2007 figures at this point. Here are Hasbro's answers from previous SSG questions; and from other sites.

Questions we asked from the last round:

Why is it that with some of Hasbro's Star Wars non-main lines (most recently the Potato Head line), the initial item ships in large quantities while further releases are released in smaller numbers that diminish as the waves continue, resulting in a glut of the first items, later items very difficult to find, and diminished sales overall for that line? And why use secondary waves to replenish initial waves when often there's no way to tell how the early waves sell, such as stores having plenty of Darth Tater while the Spudtrooper's case has more Darth Taters in it so stores have less room for Spudtroopers and even less room for them when the R2-Potatoo comes out? The POTJ-era Mega Action line was the same issue, and these examples are hardly alone.

Since two recent Neimoidian figures (Neimoidian Warrior and Lushros Dofine) were extremely heavy pegwarmers, and the Episode I Neimoidians sold slowly as well, how does that affect the chances of more Neimoidian figures being made in the future?

Removable lightsaber blades so Jedi figures could have saber accessories that were "on" or "off" and could be worn on their belts was a good concept, but this made the saber blades more fragile. Are there any plans to release Jedi figures - both main characters and secondary - with both solid one piece ignited lightsaber and "off" lightsaber hilt accessories?

Why is the upcoming Saga Collection #64 figure being called Commander Appo? He is clearly modeled after Commander Bow (as he appears in comics, with the pauldron), not Commander Appo (who in the film wears the same armor and markings as the other 501st clones). If it is to differentiate between him as a commander and the regular grunts, why not just call him Commander Bow for the sake of accuracy?

What level of priority does Hasbro give to redoing original POTF2 figures in either the 30th Anniversary line or the Vintage line? There are some great figures out there we're still hurting for, such as a Luke and Han Stormtrooper that don't resemble Hans and Franz, a regular Princess Leia that's not preposed or weird-looking, Luke Snowspeeder pilot, etc.

Is Hasbro completely satisfied that the VOTC Stormtrooper mold is the definitive 3&#190;" Stormtrooper figure for the foreseeable future of the line, or might there be changes down the road? For example, the figure has trouble holding the barrel of the blaster due to stiff plastic in the hands; has a stiff, narrow-legged stance that does not lend well to dynamic posing; and of course not all Stormtrooper armor elements were identical in the films, some of the "brows" and "mouths" varied. Also, the current use of the mold uses a different material for the helmet & limbs than from the shinier, harder torso pieces, leading to a noticeable coloring variance as well as trouble with the limbs and helmet staining.

Current questions (vote for up to 6):

- What is the status of Playskool's Jedi Force line?

- Having met some of you at SD Comic-Con, where I've been able to talk to you and learn all sorts of things about the struggle involved in making these toys, I wonder if maybe you'd consider sharing a lot more of that with collectors in general? If not, why? - asked by Plasticfetish

- Back when you were posting updates about the Fan's Choice figure development on your site, it did a lot to generate interest. Any chance that you'd go back to doing something like that? If not, why?

- I've seen the Kenner and Galoob logos on a few things lately. Is that just a "special" thing, or are we looking to see a relaunch of some old brands?

- Are more properties aside from Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Marvel, and Transformers planned for the Titanium Series lines?

- With each figure in The Saga Collection line having at least 6 different "exclusive hologram figure" pack-ins, some collectors think these were created solely to sell multiples of the same figure to completists. What was the thinking behind these "exclusive hologram figure" pack-ins, and why change the color from blue to red when there were no red character holograms in the movies?

- Any chance of getting a figure of "Heater", the character name given to the human actor stand-in for Jabba in for A New Hope played by Declan Mullholland?

- Canadaian collectors miss out on a many of the US-only store exclusives. Any chance Canadians could have every exclusive figure/vehicle/combination made available on shop.starwars.com after their shelf runs in the US stores?

- Why were there only 5 Vintage-style figures this year, and why was Empire Strikes Back left out of the line-up when there are such candidates as Snowtrooper, Bespin Luke, Bespin Han, the Hoth incarnations of Han, Luke, & Leia, and even ESB style Boba Fett waiting to be made?

- Is there any possibility of seeing a 7" Unleashed Clone Wars Animated wave?

- What is the status of the Holiday line? Any thoughts to a release of a Padme & Anakin with baby Luke manger type of scene?

- With talk about the Expanded Universe figures returning in 2007, are the EU figures going to be short-packed like Scorch or will there be enough for everyone?

- If Hasbro feels that mid-sized vehicles is the way to go, then will we be seeing more airspeeders and landspeeders in the forseeable future? Some of the airspeeders are pretty much snubfighter sized.

- Eventually will all the Episode III Clone Commanders be released as an entire set?

- With the release of the George Lucas in Stormtrooper Disguise and the Lucas Family Collection, can we expect to see a George Lucas the Director action figure in his trademarked flannel shirt and perhaps variations of old and young Lucas?

- Will there ever be a Fan's Choice Titanium Series Forged Figure?

- Has Hasbro considered taking figures that were released in the original Kenner vintage line that have already been remade with modern VOTC quality (example: OTC Cloud Car Pilot) and packaging them on VOTC-style packaging, perhaps for a lower price than new-mold VOTC go for (msrp $10)?

- Are there going to be any more silver 'raw metal' Titanium 3" ships like the silver Slave I, 5-pack Millennium Falcon, 5-pack Death Star, etc.?

- Since the Saga Collection was extended, will the miniature hologram figures change color once again, stay red, or go back to blue?

- Knowing you can't (or won't) divulge any specifics - has pre-production begun on any of the new toy products that will come out in support of the 2 Star Wars tv series that are currently being developed?

- Was it intentional for the recent Target-exclusive Rogue II Snowspeeder to be without stickers and the spring-loaded landing gear? (The landing leg in previous releases had a spring which held it in the down position when the door holding it was slid open.)

- Considering it is the very first spaceship we see in Star Wars and plays a significant role in the first part of the movie as well as in ROTS, will the Tantive IV (aka Rebel Blockade Runner) vehicle ever be offered?

- Since we've seen Star Wars crossovers with Transformers done in the Star Wars Transformers line, the Attacktix line, and even some might argue the Titanium Series line; and Marvel Superheroes now have Titanium and Galactic Hero-styled entries, will we get other kinds of crossover entries, perhaps GI Joe Galactic Heroes? Star Wars, Transformers, and GI Joe all had their first comic ties to Marvel, so it'd be... uh... "perfect"!

- Though you said you wouldn't be releasing any new Separatist Leaders or Neimoidians in 2007 does this include repaints and retools of existing ones?

- What does Hasbro think about using the New Jedi Order (Yuuzhan Vong) series of novels for source material for the Expanded Universe collection?

- Since the upcoming Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter is an orange version of the AOTC ship, does this lower the chances of getting the green/gray (with yellow droid) ROTS version of his ship as seen in the Clone Wars cartoon episode 23, or is it possible that we will still see one in the future?

- The 3" Titanium series X-Wing mold is being rereleased as a Dagobah version soon but the S-foil wings are stuck open on this mold which doesn't look right for the paint scheme. Will Hasbro eventually make a new X-Wing that has opening/closing wings? How about a new 3" Titanium Millennium Falcon with retractable landing gear, or other Galoob die-cast molds that could use updating?

- Any possibility of releasing a super-articulated IG-100 Magnaguard (aka General Grievous' Bodyguard)?

- The Battle Packs Unleashed line recently had a Snowspeeder vehicle set as part of the Battle of Hoth assortment. Will we see more ships in the line? How about taking larger ships from other Hasbro lines (like the 3&#190;" line's Millennium Falcon for example) that are close to the line's scale and retool them into the Battle Packs Unleashed line?

- If and when you decide to make a Battle Droid Commander 2-pack, will you make one figure in the regular color and one in the Geonosis color, or are all of the Battle Droid 2-packs going to be 2 of the same paint application?

- In the pictures we've seen for the Ambush On Ilum Battlepack, it appears that the C-3PO figure is gold. In the cartoon, during the Ilum sequence, C-3PO is the grayish color he was in Attack of the Clones. Will the figure in the Battlepack be repainted to reflect this, or will he remain the inaccurate gold?

- Why do some pack-in figures with vehicles and multi-figure sets use older or less-popular sculpts of the character when better-quality ones exist? Examples include the large-wing TIE Fighter being packed with the POTF2 TIE Pilot figure rather than the vastly-superior Saga TIE Pilot, or Battle Packs that use the ROTS #06 Quick-Draw Clone Trooper or Deluxe Jetpack Clone rather than the #41 Super-Articulated Clone, or the upcoming Tantive IV Battle Pack using the Evolutions Sandtrooper mold that doesn't have mid-torso articulation over the VOTC Stormtrooper. (This question isn't looking for answers to those specific examples, but to the general "why" of this practice.)

Vote now, and feel free to add new questions too. Thanks for participating!

24. Though you said you wouldn't be releasing any new Separatist Leaders or Neimoidians in 2007 does this include repaints and retools of existing ones?

28. Any possibility of releasing a super-articulated IG-100 Magnaguard (aka General Grievous' Bodyguard)?

30. If and when you decide to make a Battle Droid Commander 2-pack, will you make one figure in the regular color and one in the Geonosis color, or are all of the Battle Droid 2-packs going to be 2 of the same paint application?

1) Why do you use the less-popular sculpts in figure sets and as vehicle pack-ins when more popular sculpts of the figures exist. Examples would be using the POTF T.I.E. Fighter pilot in the large scaled wing T.I.E. Fighters instead of the better-articulated Saga T.I.E. Fighter Pilots, the ROTS #6 Clone Trooper-style sculpt instead of the ROTS #41 Clone Trooper-style super-articulated sculpt for the 501st Clones in the Jedi Temple Assault Battle Pack, the lesser-articulated Troopers in the evolutions packs when there are SA Clone Troopers and Stormtroopers, and the Blue AOTC Clone officer in the Tins. Thes are examples and are not meant to be addrssed individually. Please address the issue in general because "We used the Evolutions Clone in the Tin because it had a removeable helmet" would not address why the Evolutions Clone was not done with a super-articulated body and re-tooled head for a removeable helmet in the first place.

2) How much do you sell a case of figures to a retailer for?

3) Are there any plans to release solid cases of troop-builders?

My wife treats me like an ATM machine. She pushes my buttons until I give her money.

In the future, please don't number new questions, if I scan past too quick I might count those as votes for the actual #s 1, 2, and 3.

Why do you use the less-popular sculpts in figure sets and as vehicle pack-ins when more popular sculpts of the figures exist. Examples would be using the POTF T.I.E. Fighter pilot in the large scaled wing T.I.E. Fighters instead of the better-articulated Saga T.I.E. Fighter Pilots, the ROTS #6 Clone Trooper-style sculpt instead of the ROTS #41 Clone Trooper-style super-articulated sculpt for the 501st Clones in the Jedi Temple Assault Battle Pack, the lesser-articulated Troopers in the evolutions packs when there are SA Clone Troopers and Stormtroopers, and the Blue AOTC Clone officer in the Tins. Thes are examples and are not meant to be addrssed individually. Please address the issue in general because "We used the Evolutions Clone in the Tin because it had a removeable helmet" would not address why the Evolutions Clone was not done with a super-articulated body and re-tooled head for a removeable helmet in the first place.

I had a tough time with that question, so I rebuilt it some and added it, LMK if it I missed something crucial to what you meant.

2) How much do you sell a case of figures to a retailer for?

This is a question they won't answer, they don't answer stuff on money. It's also a sliding scale depending on how much the retailer orders, Wal-mart pays less than the hobby shops who order direct. I believe it's around $48 or so, but you also have to have the minimum $2000 per month orders met as well.

3) Are there any plans to release solid cases of troop-builders?

From June 30th:

[FONT=Arial]TheJawa.com: Will there be more products specifically geared towards army building in the near future? Either as part of something like the recent EE exclusive Clone Troopers, basic case assortments with 3 each of 4 different troops, or solid cases?[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Hasbro: Troops will be an even greater focus later this Fall, but we won't be having cases as heavy as you suggest simply because we don't want to neglect the rest of the core characters and the other figures in the line. It's always a balancing act getting everything in.[/FONT]

Originally Posted by Mr. JabbaJohnL

Why are we voting again? Won't they just answer the last questions and ignore these (since there was a week off)?

No, we have synched-up schedules on this, that's why we didn't send in questions on the 17th and why round 18 lasted 2 weeks.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

Kylo Ren - came from Space Brooklyn, although he moved to Space Williamsburg before it was trendy.

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.